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»motor race in Brazil» |
| The first official motor race in Brazil took
place in 1908 on a track built in the Parque Antartica in Sao Paulo.
This new event was supported by the president, Washington Luis, who
personally supervised the setting up of the track, with the aid of
public financial support: fifteen thousand people paid to see the
victory by Count Silvio Penteado. But it was in Rio de Janeiro, on
a track running between Gavea, Leblon and Sao Conrado that Brazilian
motor racing started to make history. Before the appearance of Formula
One, aces such as Juan Manuel Fangio and Hans Von Stuck were battling
it out on the circuits. During the 1940's, however, a Brazilian driver was already a star performer on the track and king of racing in Rio: Francisco Landi from Sao Paulo. Landi's reputation accorded him the honour of being able to paint his Ferrari green and yellow, by courtesy of Commander Enzo Ferrari himself. Landi was also the first Brazilian to compete in Formula One, a category that was created in 1950 and which is still supreme in world motor racing. The pioneer never actually won a race but he paved the way for the Brazilian invasion that began in the 1970's. |
|
»Formula One»
|
| A new master of the circuits emerged called
Emerson Fittipaldi. Just twenty five-years old, he had made
his Formula One debut in 1970 and won the last race of the year, decisive
in guaranteeing the title of world champion to the Austrian, Jochen
Rindt, his team-mate at Lotus who died in an accident at Monza before
the end of the season. Two years later, Emerson Fittipaldi achieved
two feats. With his prestige he was to help bring Formula One to Brazil,
when the Argentinian, Carlos Reutman won the championship in front
of 180,000 spectators. With his great talent, Fittipaldi walked off
with the title that season, his first world championship. Champion once again in 1974, Fittipaldi led the way for other Brazilians in Formula One: his brother, Wilson together with Ingo Hoffman, Alex Dias Ribeiro and Jose Carlos Pace. "Moco", as Pace was known, won the Brazilian Grand Prix in 1975 and was seen as a future world champion when he died in an air-crash in 1977. His death, the failure of the Emerson Fittipaldi's Brazilian-designed and built car - the Copersucar - serious accidents and a lack of charisma on the track led to a black phase for both Brazilian motor-racing and for Formula One that lasted until the end of the decade. In 1981, with the season still depressed, Brazil acquired a new idol on the track. Nelson Piquet and his amazing Brabham achieved the world title. In 1982, Piquet spent the year trying to fine tune his Brabham but in 1983, the new Brabham BT42, with BMW turbo engines, confirmed the reputation of the Brazilian driver as a star. Piquet won his second title in 1983, completely dominating the championship, In 1987, the formula was repeated and he joined the select club of three-time world champions. At that time, however, Piquet had to share Brazilian popular affection with the man who was to become the country's greatest ever-racing driver, and for many fans of the sport, the greatest driver of all time. Ayrton Senna came to Formula One in 1984, with the reputation of a driver who had won all the European championships he had entered. He made his first appearance in a Toleman and in the Monaco Grand Prix when he took his car to second place in a torrential downpour, losing only to Alain Prost and McLaren because the race was interrupted. Senna's following years with the Lotus team promised that the world title was only a matter of time. With the help of the Brazilian driver, the team, already in decline, achieved its last Formula One victories. Senna's amazing feats, including beating his opponents in cars that were obviously faster, led him at last to a first rank team, McLaren. The two best Formula One drivers, Senna and the French Alain Prost, now drove the best cars in their class. The Brazilian went on to beat records - fastest times, pole-positions - and to challenge Prost's record of wins. With McLaren, Senna was champion three times (1988/89/91) and only left the team when its success began to wane. Contracted to Williams, he believed that the British team was the surest point from which to regain the world championship. It was at the wheel of a Williams, however, that he was to meet his death on the circuit, on May 1st 1994, in Imola (Italy), leaving the whole of Brazil in mourning. When Senna died, pioneer Emerson Fittipaldi had already opened up another route for Brazilian racing drivers: Formula Indy. Over forty, the Brazilian once again found success in this typically American class, becoming champion in 1989 when he won America's most traditional race, the Indianapolis 500 Miles. The prestige of Fittipaldi once again brought honour to Brazil: the first edition of the Rio 400 was run in 1996 and the winner was one of eight Brazilians in Indy car racing, Andre Ribeiro. Three other Brazilian drivers competed in Formula One, still the main class of motor racing in which Rubens Barrichello, recently hired by Ferrari, stands out. |